Foes: Cell Towers Not Really Hidden

JAMES CITY — Soon, every time David Neiman pulls out of his Kingsmill home on Broomfield Circle, looming almost directly over his head will be two 120-foot cell phone towers disguised as pine trees.

Neiman, the Kingsmill resident who has fought the towers since appealing their approval last year, still feels the towers, as proposed, violate county code.

"These things go way up beyond the trees and especially when the leaves are off, they're going to be perfectly visible to the casual observer," he said. "They're closer than 400 feet to residences. I simply think, in this instance, the planning director made the wrong decision."

Bill Halteman, a Kingmsill resident and leading member of the Kingsmill Wireless Communications Advocacy Group, agrees with the belief that the county's ordinances were ignored in approving the towers' construction.

When a Gloucester County judge overturned a Board of Zoning Appeals decision to kill the tower proposal on Tuesday, he did so without getting to the root of the controversy, Halteman said.

"The judge's decision only decided on the procedures of the BZA," Halteman said. "But the decision didn't answer the question of whether the towers were camouflaged."

The county's Planning Director is saddled with that responsibility.

The towers are slated for a stand of trees between the 15th tee of a golf course and vacant land Kingsmill maintenance crews use for dumping debris. On the other side of that is a soccer field.

As depicted in artist renderings provided to county planners, the towers - which are supposed to be disguised as large pine trees - will soar above the existing trees.

The court decision effectively killed further scrutiny of the tower's design or placement.

An appeal, which would have to be filed in the state Supreme Court, would have to be brought by the appeals board, which is unlikely, but possible if its pro-bono attorneys wish, said Deputy County Attorney Adam Kinsman.

At the base of the proposed towers is something Halteman said he and other tower opponents may be able to use in their favor, though it likely won't stop the towers from being built.

The remains of what is believed to be slave quarters associated with the historic Kingsmill Plantation sit directly between the towers' proposed footprint.

By state law, Verizon Wireless and AT&T have to provide a plan to preserve the artifacts at the site.

Towers or not, Halteman's group is rallying to ensure the site is cared for.

As for Neiman, who will see the towers every time he pulls out of his driveway, "I'm just looking at this and shaking my head saying 'these things just don't fit.' "

TOWERS CASE TIMELINE

* Early 2008: Approval by planning director, Development Review Committee and Planning Commission